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Manning competent to face court martial

From NBC's Jim MiklaszewskiA U.S. Army medical and mental evaluation team has determined that WikiLeaks suspect PFC Bradley Manning is both physically and mentally competent to face court martial. The 706 Board, as it's called, took several months to make that determination.

The board's ruling clears the way now for Manning to appear before an Article 32 hearing -- the military equivalent of a grand jury -- to determine if he should face court martial.

The Army has leveled nearly 30 charges against Manning in connection with the alleged theft of "hundreds of thousands" of classified military and State Department documents, many of which eventually were publicly released by Wikileaks.

The most serious of the charges -- "aiding the enemy," because some of the information could be used by U.S. adversaries in Iraq or Afghanistan -- carries a possible death sentence. While prosecutors have not reommended the death sentence, it will ultimately be up to the "convening authority," who is the presiding judge to make that determination.